making a CP to fit a narrow space

[motocrash]

I am making my first MAME machine.  I am going to be using a beat Pac Man cabinet as the starting point - I am going to do a vert monitor install.  The cab was beat, and no current CP or hardware are mounted, but I am going to bring it back to a more Pac like look (it is currently painted black).  Have an original glass and marquee so I think a classic look will be nice, but want the multigame aspect - so no simple pac CP will do - want to build (or maybe buy) a bigger one to play all those other games.  I am trying to figure out how to mount a control panel to this cab.  The pac has the side walls that come out on either side of the CP more than most other machines - so it seems hard to mount a wide control panel - it would have to be out toward the player, or notch the cab.  It would probably leave quite a gap between the back of the CP and the glass too, and I am not sure how it will all look.  Anyone have any ideas or suggestions?  I was thinking a CP that is narrow between the walls, then opens up to a wide CP toward the player, but I worry about the ergonomics of that for multiplayer.  I want a CP with a couple 8 way sticks with buttons for 2p games, and a 4 way stick (natch)...  Something like Mameroom's classic controller.

[Blanka]

I would keep the dimensions original, and make it a 1-person vertical mamer. If it is black you can also make it a Galaga cab. Put a U360 in the original pac-stick position (maybe even the red ball top), then 6 buttons on the right, 4 action buttons and 1/2 player start on the original position. Then on the left of the stick a spinner. That way you can play most vertical classics.

[motocrash]

I intend to make 2 cabs  eventually, and I have a second stripped cab already... 1 vert, 1 horiz.  I just decided to make the vert first.  I was thinking of buying a large CP for the vert, and later moving it over to the horizontal when that one is done.  I then would make a control cp like you suggest that would fit the PacMan.  I just hate the idea of making this first machine, and not having 2 players for 1941, super bubble bobble, joust 2, etc., or no trackball for centipede.  So this leads me back to the problem of creating a way to mount a larger panel to the PacMan, at least short term (6 months?).  I have tried to go through some of the gallery but see few people who have made machines from PacMan cabs, unless they went with a small, original sized CP.  BTW the pic I posted was just to illustrate the issue of the narrow area for the CP, not my machine.  I would not be doing this if I had a machine that looked that nice.

[Blanka]

missing 2 player 1941 is not that big a problem, as 1944 will be the better alternative on your 2nd machine. That leaves centipede.... Well... mushrooms... 

[GaryMcT]

Did you sort this out?  Seems like it'd be pretty easy to make the control panels swappable on one of those machine.  Just wire up the interface with a DB25 or something similar so that you can plug and unplug each different interface.

[SithMaster]

I have the same problem.  A one player setup would be easier for me to finish and I will most likely be the only one playing but the possibility of a friend wanting to play is there.  I'm pretty sure that people I associate with don't care for vert shooters so it should be okay for just single controls.

Search the forums for "blank pac cp" or use galaxian in there for a topic in BST showing a cp that hangs out past the sides.  It looks odd but it might be what you want.

[csa3d]

I have a similar styled galaxian cab with a mame control panel.  I ended up with a 1 player 6 button layout with two u360 sticks and a 2.5" trackball.  Standing two people in that space to play cooperatively is not fun.. even if you took it down to 4 buttons per player.  Probably more possible if you loose the trackball.  For two players, you really need a cab without the sidewalls or a bigger cab.  As you'll see in my thread, I originally tried cramming more stuff in the cp then what I ended up with.  Once you start mounting the components you'll understand why.

good luck

-csa